Back at it Again!!

Well here I am, Still trying to become a healthier version of myself.

I started my weight loss journey on 3/17/10 with a goal to go from 271 to 171. I've then modified my goal to just get out of the 200's.

I worked hard and was able to achieve a low weight of 217, then over the past 8 months or so, due to inactivity and undesciplined eating I've managed to put 24 pounds back on. I know :(  Well, the good news is I'm still wearing size 38 jeans and XL shirts, but they are starting to fit pretty snug now. Not really liking this at the moment.

Why the refound motivation - well at work we are having a weight loss challenge; $20 to enter, winner takes all (based on % of weight lost in a 7 week period).

Now normally I subscribe to the slow and steady 0.5-1 pounds per week, but since I have been so lazy and not moving, that the increased exercise and attention to my diet I should likely be able to lose 2-2.5 pounds per week.

I'm planning to use this time to jump-start me back into a healthier way of living. I know that my biggest downfall was the lack of exercise. When I started working full-time+, I struggled with finding time. I'm spending 40 min in the morning working out on the elipital and home gym. Hopefully after 7 weeks this will be such a routine for me that it will once again become a way of life.

Oh Dear - What happened to a Year

Well, I have not been as dedicated as I have been a year ago. But I want to give a quick update.

I have been struggling with time to workout, and that struggle still exists HOWEVER, we have now setup a home gym which includes a weight machine and an Elliptical machine. Now I should be able to get down and workout at least 4x a week. But I am in excuses mode and got to get out.

The good news is that while I have not been all that active I haven't put ANY weight back on. I am sitting very happy at 217 which is 54 pounds less than ONE YEAR AGO!!!!

Now, I know my goal then was to drop 100 pounds, but really, I'm feeling so good right now, I would just like to get down below 200 for the first time since '99.

My successes are that I did not do a "Diet". Not atkins, or south beach or weight watchers or any program. All I did was counted calories and kept to the appropriate serving sizes. That was key. So now even without exercise I am able to sustain my weight - as I begin to use our new home gym I would hope to see the pounds start to fall off again.

I'm BAAAAACK

Hey there, It's me again, the incredible shrinking man... haha.

Well, it's now 2011, and oh my where has the time gone, it has been a long time since I've last posted, so I'm just gonna jump right in.

Well, since the last time I wrote a lot has happened: I recovered from being very sick with whooping cough like symptoms, started working full time for a wonderful agency in Ann Arbor, the kids have gone back to school, I survived the holidays, etc. etc.

Previously my weight was 224, but I was able to get my weight down to 215, as of today I weigh 219. I put on 4 pounds through the holidays. I have redefined my weight loss goal based on my current state, and right now, I plan to be break the 200# mark by May 7, my 40th birthday.

Week #22

Ok, it's been a month since my last post and it has been quite a struggle. I was happy to announce on my last post that I was at 224 (-47lbs), which I was very proud of myself, and rightfully so.

But this past month has been quite an emotional roller coaster. I've found myself hitting face first into a weight loss brick wall. I maintained 224 for a complete month. So the bad news is that I was not able to lose any way for 4 wks, but the good news is that I didn't gain anything either and I feel like I may have still lost inches. The "new" pants I bought are fitting much looser than they had when I bought them. So, I figured that I'm converting the weight from fat to lean muscle which is very good. But the emotional stress of not losing weight was hard.

Lots of people said to mix up my workout, and I tried, but I just found myself doing what I'm used to doing. However, I did try a new cardio machine and another weight training machine, but I haven't spent much time on either (not enough to make any real impact, i thought).

This past month has been a good month overall, very active, lots of parties and events and opportunities to be "bad". But since we're not on a diet, but rather a lifestyle change - I find myself seeking out the healthiest choice no matter where we go. For instance, we were at a carnival and carnival food is the best/worst depending on your mindset. For us it was brutal. We found a cart that was selling Chicken on a Stick - grilled chicken skews, with chicken fried rice Yum and we figured it was much better than nachos or elephant ears.

Took the kids roller-skating and they had pizza (2 pieces each), I had one piece and a unsalted hot pretzel with mustard, which was better than all their deep fried options.

So with a slight change in my workout and maintain my current nutritional plan I stepped on the scale again today, 5 weeks after I first weighed in at 224. In conversation I have been rounding up to 50 pounds instead of 47, but I knew inside that I was "lying" that I had not yet achieved that elusive 50 pounds...

Today I am happy to announce that I weighed in at 220 (-51)!!!!  So after 4 weeks of no change, I lost 4 pounds this past week. I'm not sure what happened, but I am so excited. I've lost 51 pounds in 5 months - 10/mo. This is my drive and determination overcoming this minor hurdle.

Week 17 Weigh In

Well, Summer is here and as you may have guessed by my infrequent posting, things are pretty hectic. Working from home and a houseful of kids means not much time to blog. But here goes...

My last weigh in was 2 weeks ago on 6/30 and I was at 227 (-41 pounds). Since I began my journey on 3/17 - I have consistently lost weight each and every week. It has not been too difficult for me as I have been following a very easy plan - smaller portions, adding exercise and drinking lots of water.

Over the past few weeks I feel as if I fell off the bandwagon, I have a ton of excuses, challenges rather that I don't feel that I handled very well. First of all, on July 4th my gym closed down for a week for it's annual maintenance and reopened on July 12th. So my plan was to get a temp membership somewhere else and to follow along with the Biggest Loser's Last Chance workout. Well, I didn't get the temp membership and only managed to do the last chance workout once and it really kicked my butt to the point that I really hurt the next 3 days so I didn't do much after that.

My wife & I thought that the gym opened up on the Sunday, but learned otherwise when it was locked up tight, so we did walk a mile around the track - which felt really good. But it doesn't compare to the workout we get in the gym.

So needless to say, our activity has gone way down as compared to the previous 15 weeks - how was the eating... well not as bad, but we did have a wonderful time a BBQ with friends, and other than a few "drinks" were doing very good eating chicken and salad and fruit, with only 1 small treat. As the night went on my wife and I were playing texas hold'em and both were doing very good (we both made the final table). However, I took an early hit and then drove out by an overaggressive player who had no business being in that hand, yes I'm still bitter about it. But anyway, it's just a game right - well, it put me out of the game and I was really bummed so I went upstairs and there sitting there is the buffet of food - and I wasn't good, wrong foods - large portions - I pigged out. :(

The next day I felt awful, bloated and gaseous. OMG, I will never do that again. My tongue loved it, my body hated it. So now Monday morning at the gym, good workout. Really feeling everything as my body has not really been in motion the past week. So I was eager to get to the gym and get back to work. It felt really good. So now was the moment of truth what damage did I do??? I had to know, so I stepped on the scale and it read 230... OH NO!! I put on 3 pounds. Now I actually thought, it could be worse and counted my blessings - just time to buckle down and get to work.

Kept my calorie intake in check and another workout Tuesday morning indicated that I have now lost 2 of the 3 pounds I put on. This is my body getting rid of the water it was retaining and all the junk I ate over the weekend (no offense Rob, it was delicious).

So I was really hoping that today I would be back to 227 then I can work hard to drop my last 6 pounds of my short-term goal over the next 2 weeks. Well, I stepped on the scale and it read..... 224!!! Yeah, I lost the 3 I put on plus 3 more. I am so happy that my small deviation didn't have a lasting effect because I maintained good eating habits during the rest of the time and I think that I have done a lot to speed up my metabolism during this lifestyle change.


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Week 14 Weigh-in

I haven't gone anywhere, have just been very busy. So I will say that with the busy schedule, it hasn't been easy to get to the gym and eating right has been a challenge from time to time.

We are learning better ways to stay within our healthier lifestyle while eating out but it still isn't the best choice when changing a lifestyle as many places offer oversized portions and are cooked in butter or oil.

Two weeks ago, we've purchased the Wii Fit Plus and playing on it about every other day along with a couple days of some serious manual labor so I'm really hoping that I was able to see a positive difference.

Last week I weighed in at 233 pounds, and I'm really trying to get to 231 which will be 40 pounds since St. Patrick's Day. Today's results are in - the scale tipped in at 229 - That's right, I've lost 4 pounds this week and am now in the 220's.... only 8 pounds away from my half-way point of 221 (-50 lbs). I am so excited. I will continue to work hard and my goal is to drop those 8 pounds over the next 6 weeks (by 7/28).

My next goal is to be more disciplined and get to my blog more frequently.

I'm back - 3 weeks later

I apologize for the brief 3 week hiatus; it was not intentional but I do want to take this time to catch up since my last post, which was 3 weeks ago today.

First off, the last time I posted I was down to 246, which is 25 pounds from my original starting weight of 271. I was feeling good, eating right and going to the gym almost every day. We've decided to take one weekend day off from the gym and that would be a day we would enjoy the weather and do some geocaching.

May 1st, Friday night. We had a date night (first one in I can't remember how long). We went out to eat at a crab house - Angela had a platter with crab cooked different ways and I settled into a serving of Alaskan King Crab legs and according to the menu from the Dutch Harbor fleet (featured in the deadliest catch). I might've seen my dinner caught :) Anyway, it was delicious and not very high on the calories because we had salad and asparagus with our meals. From there we went to Hamlin Pub to watch our friend's band - there were a lot of people there we knew. We had a great time and it was smoke-free as it was the first day of the Michigan smoking ban - no more coming home smelling like an ashtray.

5/5 was another weigh-in and I'm really getting settled into this 2 pounds a week - slow and steady - our path to success. Friday 5/7 was my birthday, I actually had cake - but Angela found some cake that was well within our calorie objective. Sunday, Mother's day: Angela was up and gone to the gym - I quickly got up and began making her breakfast. While it wasn't breakfast in bed, it was a hot breakfast as she walked in the door from her work out. Then she decided she wanted to go geocaching all day. It was a beautiful day so we packed lunches for everybody - and took off towards a state park to find some geocache. We ended up walking completely around a beautiful marsh and collected 6 geocache along the way, walking almost 2 miles only stopping to have lunch while looking out over the water and the wildlife.

5/10 was Ange's birthday, we had dinner at home and both felt that we need to tighten things up a bit after a weekend that we kinda pushed the envelop. So we each had intense workouts Monday to Weigh-in Wednesday.

5/12 - Next weigh in and another 2 pounds - now at 242 (29 pounds)

Still watching what we eat - limiting fatty meats and white potatoes. It really is amazing the selection of foods that are available that are lower in calories, fat, sodium, sugar than the foods we are so used to eating. By simply replacing those with the healthier choices makes a huge difference.

5/14 - busy day scheduled, going down to my parents for the weekend, but I still wanted to get a workout in. I found on Comcast On Demand an exercise station which included Jillian Michael's Last Chance Workout. I figured that should be a good workout for me to replace going to the gym once a week. Well, it totally kicked my butt - in 30 minutes there are 6 circuits and I had to stop after the 5th circuit. I hurt in new places, I was dripping sweat - it was FANTASTIC!!!

The weekend of 5/15 the kids and I went to visit my parents in Ohio, while Angela stayed to honor another commitment. My parents have the same types of food and snacks that we have so maintaining the diet was very easy.

Back home Sunday night and back to the daily routine. Gym in the morning then work. Yesterday I had a lot going on so I did the Last Chance Workout and completed it - doesn't hurt as much but I was still soaked from perspiration - it was another great workout.

Today I hit the gym - only 40 minutes because I had a busy morning and an equally busy day planned - plus it is Weigh in Wednesday. Today I weighed in at 239 - Yeah!! 32 pounds gone - almost a third of the way there.

I promise I will update this thing more frequently.

6 Weeks & 25 Pounds Down

Well, today I weighed-in for the 7th time and since my first weigh in I have done so many positive things for myself. I have taught myself proper portion size; this was especially important because I realized that I used to eat 3-4 portions at dinner and even after eating all that food I would sit in front of the TV and eat a snack.

So at first I had no idea; the measuring cup was my best friend - I measured everything and logged every single insignificant calorie. I had to know exactly what I could eat and which foods provided the most nutrients as well as fats and sugars. So now, here I am 6 weeks later... I'm not using the measuring cups all that much because I have a very good eye for a proper portion size - I may go over a bit when we eat out but it's usually grilled chicken or rice so neither will do much harm.

As for snacks - thank god for the 100-calorie packs. It's nice to have a choice of either shortbread, chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate dipped pretzels and more. But my favorite snacks have been fresh berries and yogurt with some Cheerios. I know it doesn't sound very appealing but the flavors and the textures go well together for a nice variation of a parfait.

I am not knocking any weight loss method, because we are all unique and have unique needs - but I have to say that I've seen commercials that have made measuring seem such hard work - well who said weight loss is easy. Either I measure it out myself or I pay hundreds of dollars a month for food from a Nutri-system and still have to buy veggies on top of it. The program will work if you either comment to the monthly bill and frozen foods OR you have to learn how to cook moderate servings. Why not do both at the same time?

Sure we're probably spending more buying for our new diet - but its only replacing what we've been buying all along - we have 3 children and they are starting to feel the results of our healthier eating. With that being said they are still getting hot dogs, chicken nuggets and other kids favorites. Our biggest expense which is my new found addiction - the Gym. It's a $50 / month habit that I don't think I'll ever be able to stop - it may be modified here and there, but it will likely be a part of my life for the rest of it.

I'm already a success story losing 25 pounds in 6 short weeks, I've still got a long way to go and I've never been more motivated. My next goal is another 25 pounds in 12 weeks - 221 by 7/28 - I figured that the easy part is over now I have to burn about 2 pounds each week.

The Interim Scot

Well, my profile is as close to a "before" picture as I have. I'm kicking myself for not getting a complete before picture. I should still do it now, since I'm still just really getting going. But here is a picture of me now. When I first saw the two pics side by side I was happily surprised.

            Before

Now

35 Days In

Today was another weigh-in day. 5 Weeks, 35 days. It's Wednesday again. I don't feel like I worked out as hard this week nor do I feel like I have been "dieting". I must be getting used to the lower calorie intake and my body is beginning to adapt to my workout. I guess I need to step it up a bit.

Anyway, I started today with a yummy Chocolate Shake from Costco - basically a Slim Fast shake. It gives me tons of energy just before I head to the gym. I typically spend 30 minutes on the cycle, on the weight loss setting level 4, so it progressively gets harder and harder until it peaks then it drops one level then back up and so on until it progressively declines in resistance at the end of the 30 minutes. Then I move to circuit training - basically weight machines targeting different muscle groups. I spend a lot of time on abs and an equal amount of time on upper and lower muscle groups. Today I really feel the effects in my back and my arms - the pain actually feels good.

When I got home, I had a slice of whole wheat toast with our new favorite - Smucker's Sugar Free Strawberry preserves, delicious!! All together - 45 calories. Bonus!! Lunch I had a turkey ham & cheese wrap - didn't like it at first, then I added some Corn & Black Bean Salsa then it was amazing. We are really learning how to make tasty healthy food and also how to snack without going too far.

Well enough of that. Now, I weigh myself on a "doctor's scale" at the gym. It has the 1 pound weight and the 50 pound weight, well I started out with the 50 pound weight at 250 and the 1 pound weight at 21 = 271. Today I was able to move the 50 pound weight to 200, now the 1 pound weight was at 50, but I don't care. I was able to move the 50 pound weight.

I am now 250 pounds; I've lost 2 pounds this week and a total of 21 pounds in 5 weeks. The wife & I are stronger and healthier; we have more energy and are able to run with the kids and lift heavy bags with ease. Our clothes are fitting much looser. We still have a long way to go, but we already feel amazingly successful.

Didn't happen overnight

Today I want to talk about other issues that I've faced with my weight battle. Besides not being as competitive athletically, I've dealt with a lot of psychological problems. I would not consider them severe, but they are personal and have had a lasting effect on my esteem.

Now I wasn't always overweight - it wasn't until middle school that I started to gain weight, it continued through high school. This is probably the most humiliating story I can post on here, but I feel its part of the healing process and again - I'm hoping that my tribulation will help others be strong in the face of this stupidity.

I've been called fatso, larda$$, and other mean names. One of the most humiliating moments for me was in the 7th grade, when one of my teachers (in fact, he was one of my favorites up until this point) called me "Butterball" in class. It was a nickname that stuck with me and traumatized me until I moved away at the end of 8th grade.

I was hoping to get a new start in Tucson, but it didn't take long before I was tagged with a nickname of "Pugsly" based on the character Pugsly Addams. While the name butterball sent me into depression, I tried not to allow pugsly to do the same, but embracing it. Not even my closest friend knew that every time I heard that nickname, I wanted to cry. I didn't eat a lot of junk, I was fairly active - I was just overweight. And because of that I'm doomed to a world of verbal assault and humiliation?

It's hard enough knowing you're not considered attractive to the opposite sex during your adolescence but to also be constantly reminded of it when your "friends" call you by a ridiculous name because you look like the fat kid from The Addams Family.

Now I did manage to lose the weight mostly because I began to play a lot of tennis, and I didn't eat much. And for the most part maintained a healthy weight until about 8 years ago. Over the past 8 years, my excuse for overeating and not exercising was "I"m happy with who I am". This is true, but I am not happy to what I've done to my body. I am fortunate not have have any life threatening illnesses such as; heart disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure.

Being overweight is as much mental as it is physical. Much like a smoker trying to quit - we have to reprogram ourselves to get out and get some regular exercise and to eat regular portions. I've fought past my esteem problems, however as each day goes by I feel stronger and healthier and it just adds to my confidence.

Sunday Splurge

Today was a great day and the wife & I decided to take the kids out on a day of geocaching and shopping. One of the geocache locations were within a mile of our favorite Chinese Buffet. Now I know what you're thinking "you can't go to an all-you-can-eat buffet when you're trying to lose weight". Well, we figured that we had worked so hard at modifying our eating habits that it would be safe to try it.

As we pulled into the parking lot I stated "This place was a part of our old lifestyle, we need to see if it can fit in our new lifestyle". We each had a small plate of sushi (rice, crab, fish and vegetables). The for my main I chose some Broccoli Chicken on white rice with an egg roll and 1 Crab Rangoon. At best calculation dinner was approximately 800 calories - which is not bad considering it was an early dinner - and up until that point I had only had about 400 calories. Now the best part about this little test was -- I was stuffed and had no desire for desert (and I love their soft serve ice cream). So this is proof that my body is getting used to the smaller servings. Now as an extra special treat we stopped at our local ice cream shop - and got the kids some great hand dipped ice cream - and we had the delicious fat free sugar free Praline Pecan Carmel frozen yogurt---- YUMMMMM.

Remember - we are not on a diet - it is a lifestyle change. So special treats are necessary, in moderation. And just to make sure that it didn't have a negative effect on the weight loss goal, I weighed in and I'm still at or below my last weigh-in.

One Month Complete

Well, here we are one month later. The wife & I are feeling better than we have in a long time. With the introduction of an exercise program and a nutritional plan that will follow us long after we achieve our target weight goals.

So first in 30 days, I am happy to say that I have lost 7% of my starting body weight and the wife has lost 5.2% of her starting weight, which is well about our 1 month goal of 2.5% & 3.1% respectively. We are very proud of ourselves and while we still have trouble seeing the actual results - we are starting to feel it with looser clothing and smaller appetites.

I am not an opponent or proponent of any other diet program, but I wanted to share our thoughts on why we chose the plan we're on. So with everything out there in the diet industry we were most concerned about long-term change. While our short-term goal (the next 12 months) our goal is to achieve our target weight - after that, our goal is to maintain the weight. So we felt that programs where you have to buy their food (Jenny Craig & Nutri-System) would not teach us how to cook meals for ourselves - plus it's rather expensive. Our research led us to looking at diets that cut out carbs or fat, and how dangerous they are to completely eliminate those energy sources. Plus that is only good for the initial plan, our bodies need fat & carbs to maintain.

So we decided on the biggest loser nutritional plan as it keeps things very simple - 6 small meals rather than 3 big meals. Each meal is measured for calorie content - what's nice about this is that it only takes us a few times measuring it out before we can spot a real serving size. At first it was a bit shocking to see how small the serving was compared to my usual serving. I can't imagine how many calories I used to consume before I started counting calories. If I had thought about it - I would've measured the week before I started my new plan just to see the difference. If I had to guess, I probably consumed 5000-6000 calories a day and now I'm consuming around 1200-1500 a day and surprisingly I'm not hungry. It was harder at first, but I just filled up on water, now it's not as easy to drink that much water.

We read that in order to lose weight you must either consume 3,500 fewer calories per week (500/day) or burn them off through exercise. Our exercise routine is burning off about 400-800 calories per day plus we are eating fewer calories is really working for us AND we feel that this will be rather easy to continue without too much effort.

According to the Biggest Loser Book, the formula to determine the maximum calories to consume for weight loss is calculated by multiplying your current weight by 7. Thus as we lose weight our maximum intake for weight loss continues to drop. The once we've achieved the goal - our plan will be to maintain a 2,000 calorie diet along with exercise. But we still have 12 short months before then. Stay tuned. :)

Beautiful Wednesday

The sun is out - the birds are chirping - the kids are at school - I have a ton of work to do for a new client. But I still had time this morning to get to the gym. But after kissing my 7 yr old and putting her on the bus - I had a Costo brand Slim Fast Chocolate shake for breakfast. Yummy. It gives me a great boost of energy in the morning and it's only 260 calories. I don't typically eat much for breakfast - so this is a good meal replacement. I have been drinking one a day for breakfast all week.

So after my shake, I went off to the gym to start my typical routine - 30 minutes on the bike, and 30 minutes of calisthenics/circuit training. However, I was inspired by Biggest Loser last night (I haven't really been watching it) but when my wife told me about one guy who started out over 500 pounds and how he just ran 5 miles - I felt like hmm... maybe I can run now rather than just biking. So I spent 30 minutes on the bike, with the weight loss mode which starts off with light resistance then increases to heavy resistance in the middle and then lightens up at the end. Then over the circuit, I spent most of the time focusing on abs (crunches, leg lifts and the ab machine) but did do some work on back and legs. But then with about 10 minutes left in my workout I decided to step up to the treadmill.

What I liked about this treadmill, is that by entering in data such as age and weight it calculates the necessary heart weight for weight loss. So I found that level and maintained it - what was most interesting to me is that it was only a vigorous walk to achieve the goal heart rate. I think I will probably alter my workout to bike 20, walk 20, and training 20.

So now here I am at the end of an hour, I'm soaked in sweat after a great workout. I'm feeling good and ready to step on the scale. Just a reminder I started 4 weeks ago at 271 pounds, and last week I was at 256. Today I stepped on the scale and I dropped 4 more pounds - my new weight is 252, for a total weight loss of 19 pounds in 4 weeks or 7%.

Spring Fever

Kids are back to school after a week off for Spring break. I have been fighting some seasonal allergies, but I'm doing much much better. Since weighing in last Wed only 1.5 pounds below the previous weigh-in; I have rededicated myself. I have been to the gym each and every morning AND my calorie intake has been in check.

I feel really good, focusing on my midsection, doing lots of crunches and leg lifts. Not fun, but I love how my midsection feels. We're learning new alternatives to make the food taste different and different.

Tomorrow will be the end of the 4th week. Wish me luck.

Few Days

Well, I know its been a few days, and I wanted to touch base. It's now Sunday and we are going strong - been to the gym every day this week, eating the right foods and most importantly not feeling hungry. Clothes are starting to fit much looser now - in fact I had to change to a smaller belt because the shortest length on my normal belt was too big. Now I'm walking around in size 44 jeans, and they are very baggy. Pretty soon I'll be looking like a fool with my pants on the ground.

It has been a very active week, we have tried different foods including eating out a few times. I have had success with grilled chicken or fish with rice and steamed vegetables. But I do need to mix it up a bit, it is really starting to get old. Tonight we had turkey burgers; my wife found this great recipe which includes oats and other ingredients, if she posts it on her blog I'll link to it (if anyone is interested you can contact us directly).

We have treated ourselves a bit this week in fact earlier today we took the kids to get ice cream - I know you're thinking oh no - don't do it... Well, it turns our our local ice cream shopper offers Fat Free - Sugar Free Frozen Yogurt!!! Yeah!! They also offer fat free frozen custard and they have fat free & sugar free hot fudge - Options!!!!

It's really amazing what you can find when you look. Spring break is over, kids going back to school, and we are still going stronger than ever.

Weigh In #3

The good news is I still lost weight, the bad news is that it wasn't as much as I had the last 2 weeks.

Week 1 - lost 7 pounds
Week 2 - lost 6.5 pounds
Week 3 - lost 1.5 pounds

I didn't work out as much, and did not track my calories as close as I did the previous  2 weeks. The positive is that I did lose weight, I'm starting to see the results - and my clothes are starting to fit much looser than before.

I am rededicating my efforts - I'm setting a short-term goal to lose 10 pounds between now and 5/7 (my birthday) which is 4 weeks from now.

Chocolate Bunnies & Eggs

Well, Easter morning arrived and the kids received lots of candy including 2 chocolate bunnies - one from the "Easter Bunny" and one from Grandma. There was definitely no shortage of sweets in the house. In fact, they were spread all over the living room, dining room and kitchen. So this was my first "real" test of will-power. Watching my kids and parents eating all that smooth milk chocolate was very tempting.

I have to admit that I succumbed to temptation by eating one lime Jelly Belly jelly bean. Yes, I did; however, I know that it was not nearly what I have eaten past Easters. So I consider it a victory over temptation. Easter dinner was delicious and very healthy. We had a pork roast, with baked sweet potatoes, stir-fry squash with tomatoes & onions, and asparagus. For dessert we had apple pie a la mode - 1/12 of a pie w/ 1 Tbsp of vanilla ice cream. And all together the calorie count was only 520. Keeping my daily count around 1400. Not bad for a holiday that is usually filled with so much food and sweets that in years past I probably had 1400 calories from snacks alone. In fact, I was looking at the chocolate bunnies and the calories for one chocolate bunny is 1900 EACH!!!

This morning I felt really bad - allergies had everything all stuffed up and it was hard breathing - so I didn't make it to the gym. I do feel guilty for that, but I will definitely go tomorrow morning.

Easter Weekend

Yesterday, Friday, was anything but a typical day. The weather was wonderful - warm and everyone was home from work/school. So, after breakfast, gym and some light shopping we began the task of spring yard clean-up. This was complicated by the fact that we bought the house last October and with the early snowfall - had very little time to do a fall clean-up. Therefore, we had a ton of leaves to clean out of the gardens and the lawn. All five of us pitched in and it took about 2 hours to get everything done. The yard looks great - I ended up with some dime-sized blisters between the thumb and forefinger of both hands - OW.

My parents arrived for Easter weekend and we enjoyed sitting out on the deck and enjoying the weather. Because our breakfast and lunch were so low in calories and with the workout and the yard work we estimated that we burned about 1200 calories - both the wife & I had nearly 1600 more calories that we could eat - we didn't but it allowed us to go out to dinner. Mexican!

We chose grilled chicken fajitas for 2, more food that we needed. We avoided the chips and salsa, and just had dinner - after 3 small fajitas each with about a 1/2 serving of rice. Next time we know to order fajitas for 1, and split it. We will also take our own whole wheat tortillas and save on some calories. But at the end of the day we only consumed about 700 for the whole meal (including sour cream and rice).

Today has been relaxing - woke up and had crockpot oatmeal for breakfast then went to the gym. For snack had sugar snap peas, carrots and a tangerine - lunch was leftover fajita on a whole wheat wrap - afternoon snack was cottage cheese, tomato, wheat crackers. For dinner we will be having a shrimp stir-fry, can't wait. The constant eating is keeping me from being hungry, but looks like I'm still going to be way short of my calorie goal.

For Easter dinner we have planned: grilled pork roast, baked sweet potatoes, boiled asparagus, and reduced fat apple pie. Happy Easter!

Weigh-in #2

That's right, it's Wednesday so week 2 is finally over. This was filled with ups and downs - I was real nervous about because I didn't get to work out today. I woke up with a bad head cold and it really kicked my butt. After getting the kids off to school I fell asleep on the couch.

Now I'm feeling much better than I was this morning - Hopefully with some more medication and a good night's sleep I'll be 100% in the morning.

So onto the important part - the weigh in, well I am happy to report that my new weight is 257.5, which is 6.5 pounds less than last week for a total weight loss of 13.5 pounds or 5% of my starting weight. Yeah!!

At this rate, I might have a bikini body by mid-summer... Ha..